Tummy fat a risk for older women: study

Excess fat around the trunk of the body has been linked to an increased risk of cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a study presented at a large international oncology conference.

Central obesity -- defined as high ratio of trunk fat to peripheral fat - is more important than being overweight when it comes to cancer risk and should be a priority for women in this age group, says study investigator Line Maersk Staunstrup at Nordic Bioscience and ProScion in Denmark.

"When assessing cancer risk, body mass index (BMI) and fat percentage may not be adequate measures as they fail to assess the distribution of fat mass," Ms Maersk told the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 Congress in Spain.

The advice is in response to the findings from the Prospective Epidemiologic Risk Factor study, an observational, prospective cohort study designed to get a better understanding of age-related diseases in Danish postmenopausal women.

It included nearly 6,000 women, with an average age of 71, who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans to assess body fat and body fat composition at enrolment. The average follow up was 12 years.

Using information from national cancer registries, the study investigators reported 811 solid cancers in the women and showed that central obesity was a significant independent predictor of cancer diagnosis.

There were 293 breast and ovarian cancers, 345 lung and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and 173 other cancers.

Dr Andrea De Censi from the Galliera Hospital, in Genova, Italy said the study provided important confirmation of the role of obesity and particularly insulin resistance in the cause of several cancers.

"Increases in insulin, resulting from over-consumption of simple carbohydrates such as potatoes, wheat, rice and corn, result in fat accumulation that is specifically visceral and abdominal," Dr De Censi explained.

"Insulin also has detrimental effects on hormone production, and adipose cells in fat tissue increase chronic inflammation throughout the body, another risk factor for several cancers," he said

Abdominal fat has been known as a risk factor a number of internal cancers but it was always thought to be a stronger risk factor in men than women, according to Cancer Concil CEO Professor Sanchia Aranda.

While more research is needed, keeping a healthy weight is always a good way to lower cancer risk, says Professor Aranda.

"What this study would suggest is that paying attention to the amount of weight you are carrying around your middle is as important as your overall weight," she said.